Heavenly Sword is striking at first glance, but we should expect more from our next generation titles.
But the joys end there. The level design is hopelessly linear; you'll see the same enemies stage after stage; and the sixaxis controls, god, don't get me started. Yes, after several minutes of pure frustration you will become adept at guiding projectile weapons at your targets with relative ease. But, aren't video games supposed to be fun? I'm finding this to be an issue with a lot of the Sony first party titles, leading me to believe sixaxis motion control is a primary directive for the development teams. The way I see it, if it makes logical sense and is actually an enjoyable mechanic to use, by all means, I'll use the tilt action! But don't force it on me in pointless situations that actually rip the fun right of the proceedings.
*EDIT: It was recently brought to my attention that sixaxis tilt control can be switched off at the menu screen. I have raised my score 0.5 points as a result (thanks to Foxhound71).
All of the high production values left me thinking one thing: these guys really believe they have an epic tale on their hands here... are they serious?? All of the histrionic voice acting and motion capture performances piled beneath a reheated plotline we've all seen a hundred times before didn't really do it for me. Sure, you can tell they threw a bunch of money behind this stuff, but that doesn't mean we have to overlook how bad most of it is. To be honest, I got as far as beating the stuffing out of Whiptail... for the third time... and decided I'd had enough. If you want fun, epic, multitiered boss battles, play GOW, MGS, or SotC. If you want to look at something pretty while not enjoying yourself, just watch a Scarlet Johansen flick. Otherwise, your hard-earned green can be better spent on another title.